Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-11-20
In WHEELING AND THIS VICINITY.
An Old Citizen Talks En~tertaininsly About
the Days When He Was Young.
THE STAGE COACH AND THE NAILS.

repOrUOrlal cigar prOneNeu Oy tne noWs
paper man in q burst OF generosity,
took a Whit or two of the inspiring weed
and said:
THE National road was in the height of
its usefulness during the period from 1920
to 1910. The stage coach began running
regularly from Washington City to Wheel
ing in 1918, and soon afterwards they
began to be in regular operation west of
the river as far as GAINESVILLE, and Dol
after to Columbus. These stages car
ried the mail, and excellent
time was made. The post
at Wheeling became n Of the most
important in the country, as it was the
general distributing point for the West
and Southwest after the mail had come
over the mountains. The pike, as a mat
ter of course, was the first good road the
people of this part of the country had, but
it was not the only thoroughfare opened
by any means. In laying out the road,
west of the river, the government survey
OTIS followed the general line Of the old
trail from Wheeling to GAINESVILLE, 'blazed'
ont by Col. Ebenezer Zane, in accordance
with an Act of Congress in 1896. In re-
muneration for this service, Col. Zane was
given three sections of land, n at the
crossing of the MuskiDgum river, the sec
ond at Lancaster, Ohio, and the third at
Chillicothe. The pike, of course, made
some deviations from the 'blazed' line, by
which the engineers obtained easier grades,
but the general line was identical with
Col. Zane's.
That part Of the road west of the Ohio,
extending forty or fifty miles from Wheel
ing, was best known TO me. | have trav-
ersed il many times when it was In Its
prime, and knew personally many Of the
men who lived along it or who travelled 1t
with stage or freight-team. / recall par
ticularly many of the tayern-keepers, both
here in Wheeling, and east and west OF the
city. In town | knew half a dozen Boni-
faces, among them John McCourtney, who
kept between Main and Market streets,
north of Fourteenth his brother, Alexan-
der McCOurtney, whose place was on the
south side of Fourteenth street, where
PoIlock's mill now stands /; Samuel Bey-
mer, at Main and Ninth streets ; a man
named Mozier, also on Main street, near
the Irwin residence the old Black Horse
tavern, at Seventh and Market streets; the
Columbia House, where Schambra's cloth
ing store now is, and lastly, the Powhatan
House, kept by Samuel Mathers. These
were all famous places in their day, aud
have entertained some very notable men.
Crossing to Bridgeport, l remember
Moses Rhodes, who kept a public house on
the SQUARE south of the e. 4 p. depot where
the Hill House now stands. The next
place west of Bridgeport was Frazier's
Stone Tavern near the foot OF the big
hill This still stands, and just this side
of it was another house, known n the
Valley House , the quaint old swinging
sign of which stood until about ten years
the last r,lic Of by-gone ages.
Near the top of the Big Hill was a
big brick, still standing, where Joseph
WoOdmansee furnished entertainment: for
and beast. Later this house, with
the big surrounding farm was owned by
the venerable Thomas Sweeney. lremem-
Der Mr.. WOOdmansee rs a tall ~tine-l0oklng
man, and q good proyider for his guests.
Going on west, the next road house
was kept by a Mr. Arrick, the grandfather
of the present young men so well known
in the central part of Belmont county.
There was another house Just at the east
end Of st. GAINESVILLE, and in the town
itself was a house kept by Frazier, who
belonged to q family Of inn-keepers. He
kept there for forty years, and his brother
had a house in GAINESVILLE for the same
length Of time. Near the west edge Of st.
Evansville there wa a house kept by
Weismanger, and there was still another,
about a mile and a half further on, hut the
name of the proprietor has slipped my
mind.
cat Lloydstown Robert Sturgeon, the
father of Henry and Ford Sturgeon, kept
q well known stopping place, and two
miles further on Joseph Milliner kept an
inn in q big brick house which was almost
a palace il those times. ] remember Mil
liner well. He was a short, thick-set man,
and had a tremendous family of children.
He was one of the latest of the old inn
keepers, starting after Levi Beans cut down
his s~ign-pOst and temporarily left the bus
mess. Mr.. Beans began keeping an inn
in 1898, and save for an interval Of ten
years, about 1910, kept up entertaining
people until 1870, or over so years. He
was a tall, spare man, with a good deal
of the old pioneer about him. Indeed, he
was one of the early settlers of Belmont
county, coming from Loudon county, Vir-
ginia, before 1900. He lived in the coun-
ty for eighty years, dying in 1876 at the
age of ninety-siX.
Going on westward we come to Morris
town, where Samuel 7. Price and John
Lippincott kept tavern opposite each other
in the one street of the town. They were
great business rivals. Further on was the
inn of Christopher Hoover, Brigadier Gen
eral of militia What a curious old fellow
he was. He, like Levi Beans, had come to
Belmont county when the last Of the II
dams were still almost in sight, and one
could shoot deers while standing in your
cottage door. Hoover bore u striking re-
semblauee to the great Napoleon, but was
not much of military man, no~twithstand-
ing his title. His affections ran to horses,
aud he used to drive q milk-white team OF
six big horses, which were at once the
envy and admiration of the teamsters for
two hundred miles east and west. He
FUSED to have them decked out with bear
skin housings, and their harness hung full
of little bells, and of an evening q could
hear the jingling of the bells and Hooyer's
thin ialsetto voice for q long distance out
the road. His house was a famous wagon
stand.
Going on west to FairVisw, there were
several tavernS. The best known, proba'
bly,, was kept by old man Gleayes. Just
west of Fairyiew q little IriShman named
William Bradshaw kept q very popular re.
sort. Bradshaw, who, by the way, wa q
close friend Of the late James Forsythe, Of
this city, was q notable character. He wa;
q gentleman of the old school, stood six
feet three In his stockings, and weighed
225 pounds When ] knew him, he still
were the embroidered waisteoat and rut.
lied shirt of fifty years before, while hi:
big side whiskers would have set OF
Lord Dundreary. This place was right on
the line dividing Belmont and Guernsey
counties.